U.S. Route 191 in Arizona: Difference between revisions

|tourist=[[File:Arizona Scenic Road Marker.svg|20px|link=]][[File:MUTCD D6M10-41.svg|20px|alt=|link=]] Coronado Trail Scenic Road<ref name="Parkways">{{Cite web |last=Arizona Department of Transportation |year=2014 |title=Arizona Parkways, Historic and Scenic Roads |url=https://www.azdot.gov/docs/default-source/scenic-routes/general_information_list_of_scenic_roads.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190718220038/https://azdot.gov/docs/default-source/scenic-routes/general_information_list_of_scenic_roads.pdf |archive-date=July 18, 2019 |access-date=September 11, 2018 |publisher=Arizona Department of Transportation |location=Phoenix}}</ref><br />[[File:Arizona Scenic Road Marker.svg|20px|link=]] Tse'nikani Flat Mesa Rock Scenic Road<ref name="Parkways"/><br/>

|terminus_b={{jct|state=UT|US|191|BIA|12}} at [[Utah]] state line

Until 1981, the route taken by US 191 between I-40 in [[Chambers, Arizona|Chambers]] and the Utah state line was designated as '''SR 63'''. The route from SR 80 in Douglas to I-40 in [[Sanders, Arizona|Sanders]] was originally designated as part of '''US 666'''. US 666 was often associated with the [[Devil in Christianity|biblical devil]], due to the number 666 occasionally being considered the "[[Number of the beast|number of the beast]]." The highway number caused discomfort with the general public and led to the constant sign theft of US 666 markers along the highway, prompting the redesignation of US 666 as a section of US 191 in 1992.

Traveling east from Safford, US&nbsp;70/US&nbsp;191 passes by the communities of [[Solomon, Arizona|Solomon]] and [[San Jose, Arizona|San Jose]] before US&nbsp;191 turns northeast to split from US&nbsp;70.<ref name="ADOT SHS" /> The route crosses the [[Gila River]], then heads toward Three Way, passing through the [[Black Hills (Greenlee County)|Black Hills]] and entering [[Greenlee County, Arizona|Greenlee County]]. At Three Way, US&nbsp;191 turns to the north, but the intersection is the northern terminus of [[Arizona State Route 75|SR&nbsp;75]], which heads toward [[Duncan, Arizona|Duncan]], and the western terminus of [[State Route 78 (Arizona–New Mexico)|SR&nbsp;78]], which heads into [[New Mexico]] toward [[Mule Creek, New Mexico|Mule Creek]].<ref name="US 191 Map" /> Heading north, US&nbsp;191 is a divided highway for about {{convert|5|mi|km|abbr=off}} until it arrives in [[Clifton, Arizona|Clifton]], the start of the road's designation as the ''Coronado Trail Scenic Road'' (both an Arizona Scenic Route and a National Scenic Byway).<ref name="Parkways" /><ref name="ScenicMap">{{Cite map |url = https://www.azdot.gov/docs/default-source/scenic-routes/arizona_scenic_roads_map.pdf?sfvrsn=2 |title = Arizona Scenic Roads Map |publisher = Arizona Department of Transportation |location = Phoenix |access-date = September 12, 2018 |archive-date = September 23, 2014 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140923103151/http://www.azdot.gov/docs/default-source/scenic-routes/arizona_scenic_roads_map.pdf?sfvrsn=2 |url-status = dead }}</ref> This scenic road approximates the route [[Francisco Vázquez de Coronado]] took between 1540 and 1542.<ref name="Kreutz">{{Cite web |last=Kretuz |first=Doug |date=July 5, 2009 |title=Day Trip: Beautiful byway - Spectacular drive on Coronado's path |url=https://tucson.com/lifestyles/day-trip-beautiful-byway/article_aec727ce-e981-5baf-ae74-499b8ca652a5.html |access-date=June 16, 2023 |publisherwork=Arizona Daily Star |type=Web article |via=Tucson.com}}</ref> At the intersection with Zorrilla Street in Clifton, the US&nbsp;191 designation temporarily ends and the road continues as [[#Morenci mine temporary route|US&nbsp;191 Temporary]] through the [[Morenci mine]].<ref name="ADOT SHS" />

On December 14, 1962, the route from the Navajo Nation boundary to [[Arizona State Route 264|SR&nbsp;264]] in Ganado, which was maintained by the [[Bureau of Indian Affairs]] (BIA) as BIA Route 8 (BIA&nbsp;8), became part of SR&nbsp;63.<ref>{{ADOT res|ASHD=yes|year=1962||156|date=December 14, 1962|access-date=June 16, 2023|text=ESTABLISH AS STATE ROUTE FROM S. BOUNDARY OF NAVAJO INDIAN RESERVATION -N. 4.5 MI TO JCT. S.R.63}}</ref><ref name="1971 ADOT Map">{{Cite ADOT map|year=1971|access-date=June 16, 2023}}</ref> The route from SR&nbsp;264 in [[Burnside, Arizona|Burnside]] to US&nbsp;160 (which was then designated as [[U.S. Route 164 (Arizona–Colorado)|US&nbsp;164]]) was originally part of BIA&nbsp;8 and BIA&nbsp;17 respectively. On June 15, 1970, BIA&nbsp;8 and BIA&nbsp;17 were transferred to the state of Arizona and designated as an extension of SR&nbsp;63.<ref>{{ADOT res|year=1970||055|date=June 15, 1970|access-date=June 16, 2023|text=ESTABLISH & DESIGNATE AS STATE ROUTE, INDIAN ROUTES 8 & 17 FROM WIDE RUINS NORTH TO JCT WITH U.S. 164.}}</ref> Between Ganado and Burnside, SR&nbsp;63 ran concurrently with SR&nbsp;264.<ref name="1971 ADOT Map" /> By 1981, SR&nbsp;63 had a total length of {{convert|136.64|mi|km|abbr=off}}.<ref name="ADOT Highway Log 1981">{{ADOT log|year=1981|access-date=June 16, 2023}}</ref>

{{seeRedirect|U.S. Route 666 in alsoArizona|the entire former route|U.S. Route 491#U.S. Route 666}}

|location=[[Douglas, Arizona|Douglas]] to [[Lupton, Arizona|Lupton]] at the [[New Mexico]] state line in [[Lupton, Arizona|Lupton]]

'''U.S. Route 666''' ('''US&nbsp;666''') was the original [[United States Numbered Highway System|U.S. Highway]] designation between [[Douglas, Arizona|Douglas]] and [[Sanders, Arizona|Sanders]]. It was also an auxiliary route of [[U.S. Route 66 in Arizona|US&nbsp;66]], from which US&nbsp;666 derived its number.<ref name="beastofahighway">{{cite web |url= httphttps://www.fhwahighways.dot.gov/infrastructurehighway-history/us666.cfmgeneral-highway-history/us-666-beast-highway |title= US&nbsp;666: Beast of a Highway? |work= Highway History |access-date= June 15, 2023 |last= Weingroff |first= Richard F. |date= June 18, 2003 |publisher= [[Federal Highway Administration]] }}</ref> What would become US&nbsp;666 was originally designated on September 9, 1927 as [[Arizona State Route 81 (1927–1938)|State Route 81]] (SR&nbsp;81) between [[U.S. Route 80 in Arizona|US&nbsp;80]] in Douglas and [[U.S. Route 180 (1926) in Arizona|US&nbsp;180]] in [[Safford, Arizona|Safford]]. SR&nbsp;71 was designated on the route between US&nbsp;180 near [[Solomon, Arizona|Solomonsville]] and [[Clifton, Arizona|Clifton]]. Two further parts of the Douglas to Sanders route were sections of US&nbsp;180 between Safford and Solomonsville and [[U.S. Route 70 (1926) in Arizona|US&nbsp;70]] between [[Springerville, Arizona|Springerville]] and [[St. Johns, Arizona|St. Johns]]. The remainder of the route between Douglas and Sanders was not part of the state highway system.<ref name="1927 ASHD Map">{{Cite ADOT map|year=1927|access-date=June 15, 2023}}</ref>

Undesignated parts of the Douglas to Sanders corridor were being added the state highway system beginning in 1928 when SR&nbsp;71 was extended north from Clifton to US&nbsp;70 near Springerville.<ref name="1928 ASHD Map">{{Cite ADOT map|year=1928|access-date=June 15, 2023}}</ref> On September 27, 1933, half of the route between St. Johns and Sanders was designated as part of [[Arizona State Route 61|SR&nbsp;61]].<ref>{{ADOT res|year=1933|P|385|date=September 27, 1933|text=DESIGNATE HIGHWAY AS STATE ROUTE}}</ref> By 1936, SR&nbsp;81 was designated over the entire route between US&nbsp;80 in Douglas and [[U.S. Route 66 in Arizona|US&nbsp;66]] in Sanders, with SR&nbsp;71 being decommissioned. This established concurrencies with [[U.S. Route 70 in Arizona|US&nbsp;70]] (which now took the former route of US&nbsp;180), [[U.S. Route 180 in Arizona|US&nbsp;260]] (which had taken over the original route of US&nbsp;70) and SR&nbsp;61.<ref name="1936 ASHD Map">{{Cite map|title=Arizona Highways - June 1936 - The Harriet F. Cobb Relief Map of the State of Arizona|year=1936|access-date=May 30, 2023|author=Arizona Mapping Service|location=Phoenix|publisher=Arizona State Highway Department|page=19|scale=1:1900800|url=https://azmemory.azlibrary.gov/nodes/view/22326}}</ref>

Due to the highway's numeric designation being similar to the "[[Number of the beast|"number of the beast"]]" (which was the number 666) from the [[Book of Revelation]] in the [[Bible]], US&nbsp;666 gained the nickname, the "Devil's Highway", and in turn became associated with the [[Devil in Christianity|biblical devil]]. The number was never meant to be an association to the Bible or its passages, as the number chosen for US&nbsp;666 was meant to denote it was the sixth branch route of US&nbsp;66. All designations between [[U.S. Route 166|US&nbsp;166]] and [[U.S. Route 566|US&nbsp;566]] were already planned or were in use by other highways.<ref name="beastofahighway" />

However, the biblical association and constant theft of US&nbsp;666 navigational markers, prompted the state of Arizona to renumber the highway.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rookhuyzen |first=David |date=October 31, 2019 |title=Throwback Thursday: This photo has us bedeviled |url=https://azdot.gov/adot-blog/throwback-thursday-photo-has-us-bedeviled |access-date=June 15, 2023 |website=Arizona Department of Transportation Website}}</ref> AASHTO approved a request from the states of Arizona and New Mexico to re-designate US&nbsp;666 in June 1992. As a result, US&nbsp;666 was truncated to its original southern terminus in Gallup, while US&nbsp;191 was extended south along former US&nbsp;666 between Sanders and Douglas. US&nbsp;191 became concurrent with I-40 between Chambers and Sanders.<ref name="beastofahighway" /> The redesignation was officially implemented by the [[Arizona Department of Transportation]] on September 18, 1992.<ref name="Res 1992" /> The remainder of US&nbsp;666 north of Gallup was redesignated [[U.S. Route 491|US&nbsp;491]] in 2003.<ref name="beastofahighway" />

|cspan=1514

|lspan=43

|place=EndNorth end of state maintenance

{{AZintjctint

|road={{jct|state=UT|US|191|BIA|12|dir1=north|dir2=northends|location1noshield2=[[Bluff, Utahyes|city1=Bluff]]}}

|notes=Continuation into [[Utah]]; northern end of BIA 12 concurrency; northern terminus of BIA 12

'''U.S. Route 191 Wye (US&nbsp;191Y)''' is an unsigned auxiliary route of US&nbsp;191 that runs from exit 355 of I-10 to US&nbsp;191; it is also known as Page Ranch Road. It is a shortcut for peopletraffic traveling from westbound on I-10 to northbound on US&nbsp;191 and from southbound on US&nbsp;191 to eastbound on I-10.<ref name="ADOT SHS" /> The route was originally part of US&nbsp;666.<ref name="1939 ASHD Map">{{Cite ADOT map|year=1939|access-date=May 30, 2023}}</ref> By 1951, US&nbsp;666 was moved to a newer alignment, further to the west.<ref name="DavidRumsey02">{{cite map |url=http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~212033~5500190:Shell-Highway-Map-of-Arizona-and-Ne?sort=Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No&qvq=w4s:/what/Automobile;q:Arizona;sort:Pub_List_No_InitialSort%2CPub_Date%2CPub_List_No%2CSeries_No;lc:RUMSEY~8~1&mi=10&trs=14 |title=Shell Highway Map of Arizona and New Mexico |year=1951 |author2=H.M. Gousha Company |author1=Shell Oil Company |scale=1:1,774,080 |location=Chicago |publisher=Shell Oil Company |via=David Rumsey Map Collection |access-date=April 1, 2015}}</ref> The old route between present-day exit 355 (which was at the time a regular intersection with [[Arizona State Route 86|SR&nbsp;86]]) and the new alignment of US&nbsp;666 was designated on January 24, 1958 as US&nbsp;666 Wye (US&nbsp;666Y).<ref>{{ADOT res|year=1958|P|021|date=January 24, 1958}}</ref> US&nbsp;666Y was redesignated as US&nbsp;191Y on September 18, 1992, when US&nbsp;666 and all of its special routes were redesignated as US&nbsp;191 and special routes of US&nbsp;191.<ref name="Res 1992" />